Return

A group of five people walked on the barren and lifeless ground, the lanterns they carried were the only thing that illuminated the endless darkness,

The group then looked towards a large red castle that stretched a few feet from them, its majesty festooned by a large amount of lights, its blood-red walls glowing in the darkness

Herman approached the castle gates, quickly greeting the old man guarding the gates.

"I see it's back Herman" Wilson looked melancholy.

"Did something happen?." Herman said seriously

"Your wife is back, unfortunately did not bring good news"

Herman's face turned serious, "How many are gone this time?"

"23 of them, 23 Herman, by the Red Lady" he had a sad face

Vince watched the scene, apparently the group that was on an expedition before he arrived finally returned, and of the 65 men and women who had left, only 42 came back alive.

The faces of Herman, Sila, Bernard and Bertrand were solemn, they were simply too many deaths.

Herman's brows furrowed, "I'd love to run to ask what happened, but something out of the norm happened on our journey, I need Zeldan to inspect us and check for any wrongdoing."

"Got it, I'm going to ask to call the Elder" he led the group into a room inside the guardhouse, and waved for one of the guards standing next to him to run inside to call Zeldan.

It wasn't long before he arrived, accompanied by a woman Vince had never seen before

She was somewhat similar to Sila in appearance, except she looked noticeably older, she had black hair and gray eyes, one of her obsidian horns was cut off and a scar hovered from her left eye to her cheek.

"Hela," Herman said as he ran towards her and hugged her, "I'm glad you're okay."

She accepted Herman's hug as she said "Sentimental as always Herman, I only spent a few months out."

Sila also ran into the hug "Grandma!"

"You look stronger than before, Sila," her eyes blinked, "Advanced Knight? You're really a talent."

"She had to have something good, the gods must have felt sorry for leaving such a silly creature without talent" Bernard grumbled

Sila went to curse him, but her grandmother's hand stopped over her head

"You grew up too Bernard, now you seem to be hesitant to hug your grandmother" she laughed "Are you embarrassed to be in front of the foreigner, come here?"

Bernard turned red but joined in the embrace

"... And you, so you're the new spark of hope that Zeldan talked about, there a lot I want to ask, but I think if I don't answer the questions Herman wants to ask, the man is going to freak out."

"What happened? How did 23 die? It's been 100 years since so many people died on an expedition."

Hela's face flashed regret and anger at the memory of something, so with a sigh she spoke

"A Litch; there was still one who managed to survive without being hunted, maybe he stayed in his dungeon and woke up recently."

"But how did just one Litch manage to kill so many? He's certainly something you could handle."

"Certainly, but this thing was not a fallen mage who came back to life, but a true mage who chose to become one, he was at least in the sixth circle, and was waiting for us, we fell into a trap."

"But still..."

"I also thought it wasn't going to be that much of a problem, despite being a sixth circle mage and a litch we know very well how to deal with it, the problem was one of his servants."

"Any high-level knights?"

"If were only that... its a dragon Herman, he found a dragon corpse that didn't return to earth for some reason."

"What?" People in the room screamed in shock

"Honestly the beast didn't seem to maintain its splendor and power from when it was alive, but it was definitely a power, it took us by surprise, many died not during combat, but due to the poison that its puff spewed."

Zeldan had a serious face as he muttered to himself, "What dragon it could be? Abizak? Seriatrin?"

Then he asked, "What was the color?"

"Green Dragon, it seemed to have just entered adulthood when it died"

"Something I don't know then; it might be something that was already dead before these lands were even cursed."

"But why didn't you go back to earth?" Vince asked curiously, "I read that when a dragon dies, nature doesn't leave its corpse, she breaks them down quickly."

"There can be many reasons, men have created means to preserve the corpse of a after all, maybe this could be a Litch who found a corpse before this place even existed and ended up trapped here."

Vince nodded thoughtfully, "A dragon..."

"If it's an adult dragon it poses a considerable danger, I don't think the litch will approach us while they're on these walls, after all they'll only find death at my hands."

Zeldan's magical aura was visible even as he tried to restrain it, everyone in the room was uncomfortable, it was like they were in a water tank.

He then noticing his actions "I'm sorry." he said.

Herman sighed and said, "Did you manage to retrieve the bodies?"

"Yes, that's what we prioritized, even though the litch tried to get his hands on them we managed to pull back with all the souls intact."

"Well, let's get on with the ritual then."

Vince asks, "Ritual?"

"Souls can't get out of this place, they wander and end up becoming evil spirits, so the ancestors came up with a way to prevent this from happening," Sila replied

"How is this done?" Vince asked, unable to contain his curiosity

"You are really curious disciple" Zeldan laughed "There is an artifact passed down by our goddess Tipharete, what we do is seal the souls of our brothers there, so that we can free them when we reach freedom."

"I get it, an artifact that seals souls, left by a Goddess... fantastic" he couldn't contain his words

"Well, he'll only be useful if we get out of here, though" Hela laughed.

"And one day we certainly will" Herman looked at Vince.

He noticed Herman's gaze, honestly, he felt a great weight on his shoulders, these people had been stuck here for millennia, many hopes of fleeing this place had been dashed over that time, now they had him as their last hope of getting out of this place and avoid their terrible end.

In the short time he spent with them Vince got used to living with these people, at first, he tried to keep a distance from them, just like when he was in the army, after all he didn't want to deal with losses again

However, his thinking changed quickly, the barrier between Vince and the residents was a much thinner one than he thought it would be

They welcomed him without discriminating against him, Zeldan opened doors for a path he had no hopes of even stepping on before, bonds were formed

Sometimes Vince wondered what his life would be like in this abyss if he had never been lucky enough to find Herman

He would surely be dead, and if by a miracle he had survived he would be hiding like a rat while succumbing to madness

Vince looked at the sword attached to a makeshift cloth sheath that couldn't hide its glow, 'Arthur said this is the key to getting out of this place'

He then looked at Herman and shook his head in agreement, a certainty shining in his eyes, 'I'm sure I'll pay my debt and get them out of here.'

"Some things happened during the trip Elder, I need you to check if there is something wrong with our bodies, souls or mind"

The group then reported everything that had happened, even Zeldan was surprised when he heard the name of the ancient devil

"... Leviatus, so he was stuck here after all" he looked at the group and his red eyes flashed, a black flame sprang up over his hands and flew towards them

Vince was startled at first and tried to dodge, after all instinctively people tend to avoid the fire

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you."

He couldn't dodge anyway, the fire ran over his skin, in a way it was an invigorating feeling.

"Everything seems to be normal with you" he then looked at Bernard, "However you should go through the medicine session and solve this problem of yours..."

Bernard immediately turned red with embarrassment.

"Can you show me the sword?" He asked curiously, Hela's eyes also turned sharp

Vince holding her made a slight movement, the cloths covering the blade were cut effortlessly

"Be careful, she cuts off everything she touches when I'm not holding, Herman went to try to hold her and the blade floated and tried to kill him" Vince warned

Zeldan looked on in amazement, the sword was probably the most beautiful piece of art he had ever seen, his blade glowed with an icy blue color.

"An artifact, but not a normal, a divine artifact!" he said shocked, "And you said it tried to kill Herman when he tried to wield it, this have ego? Can she talk to you?"

"No, I don't hear anything at least, but when I'm holding it sometimes I feel things, happiness, anticipation..."

"She's just sentient then, and only you can wield her" Zeldan then furrowed his brows and said with an envious scowl "You're really lucky..."

"Don't even tell me."

"Absolutely."

"... I wanted a shining sword."

"...Envy is a sin."

"You only say that because you use spears!"

The group spoke in sequence

"And she was the destination to which the golden line you saw pointed, and the man in his memoirs said it was the key to getting out of here" he said thoughtfully "the question is, where is the lock of this key?"

"Surely there must be some record about this, many places found have not yet had their secrets solved, we need to check the information that has been recorded and try to find something," Herman added

"I've been told she can cut everything, maybe cut the wall of this place?" Vince asked

"... Oh, you've never been to the limits, so you shouldn't know," Herman reminded

"Know what?"

"These lands are very large, but they are not limitless, if you go in any direction, at some point you will come across an endless precipice, it is as if we are on an island floating in the void."

"... Damn," Vince sighed.

"Besides, how could an unknown castle have suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the sulphur lake? Maybe an illusion?" Sila asked

"It may be, normally the people who are going to do the search for the worms have no means of perceiving illusions" Zeldan said with a scowl "... Even so."

"It has to do with me for sure, the devil was targeting me, that sword was waiting for me there, the question is, why?" Vince was puzzled

"Well, let's think about it after the festivities, I've had a lot of shit these past few months" Hela interrupted

"Festivities? I thought there was going to be a ritual to bury the dead."

"There is one, after him we do a festival," Hela explained

Vince was wondering if he should ask why, but Sila made the question unnecessary, "A long time ago this custom came into being, I think our ancestors wanted to escape the constant deaths" she then directed her gaze to Zeldan

"Yes, in the old days things were more terrible, I wasn't an archmage after all, and there were many different civilizations and people who still lived, that is, many conflicts" his eyes turned gloomy

"Please don't remind me of that..." Herman sighed

"Let's go in then, you can get ready to open the old wine cellar, old man" Hela said as she headed inside

While Zeldan looked wistful, Herman ran next to Hela and started talking, the man looked happy and relieved.

Vince then walked in, he was curious about this festival, the words "wine cellar" didn't escape his ears.

'Is there alcohol here?' he wondered

As the group drove further into the castle walls, one of the many shadows in the small room moved, a faint sound echoing, barely noticeable.

" An archmage, this is going to be fun."

A few moments later the room went silent again.